Overcoming His Fear

Nicholas has a very cautious personality. He doesn't particularly like to try new things (he usually makes Alex do everything first.) He has been afraid of the water for a long time. I have written before about his experience at a hotel pool, slipping off of the stairs, panicking, and being unable to get his head above water. Ever since then he has hated getting water in his face, would only get in and out of the water to cool off, and would not even try to swim with Art or I helping him. A couple of weeks ago, some friends came over to swim and they brought a pair of goggles that covered your eyes and nose. They were doing all kinds of swimming under the water and Nick asked to borrow the goggles for a minute. He put them on, held his breath, and put his face in the water. I couldn't believe it! The next time we went to Dollar General, they had two masks ($2.50) left. So I bought the two masks one for Nick and one for Alex and two pairs of goggles for Chelsea and Anthony. Nick started wearing the goggles whenever he went swimming and little by little would hold his breath for longer periods of time. Then, he began swimming under the water across the pool. Now he is like a little fish! He loves going swimming,water in his face does not bother him anymore, and sometimes he even goes under without the mask. All it took for him to overcome his fear was a little courage, and a $2.50 mask. My children never cease to amaze me!

Tweet

Tasty Tuesday:Peanut Butter Prints

Somehow I didn't have time to post this yesterday. Art has a Pot Luck at work once a month to celebrate everyone's birthday in that month and once again we volunteered to do cookies. Chelsea wanted to try something new (I never do that when I am cooking for someone else) but she dug out my Cookie Lover's cookbook and found a recipe that we had all of the ingredients for. I wish I would have taken a picture to post because they turned out really good. We made a double batch so we could have some too.

Peanut Butter Prints

1/2 C sugar
1/2 C butter
1 square unsweetened baking chocolate melted and slightly cooled
1 egg yolk
1 TBSP milk
1 1/4 C flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C miniature candy coated semisweet chocolate chips (we just used regular chocolate chips)
1/3 C creamy peanut butter

Drizzle
1/3 C semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp vegetable shortening

Heat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, butter, melted chocolate, egg yolk, milk, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add flour and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Stir in candy coated chips.
Shape dough into 1 in. balls and place 2 in. apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Indent top of cookie with thumb. Bake 8-12 minutes or until set. Immediately indent cookies again. Cool completely. Spoon about 1/2 tsp of peanut butter into each thumb print.
In a 1 quart saucepan combine drizzle ingredients. Melt over medium heat stirring constantly. Drizzle mixture over peanut butter. Let dry before storing.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Tip: Use end of a spoon to make indentation in hot cookies.

Tweet

Our School Schedule

Originally I had planned to start school again in the 11th of August, but now that Anthony is having surgery on the 14th, my plans have changed. I still have a few things for us to do in August, but it doesn't look like we will be diving back into our school books until after Labor Day. This is a tentative schedule of what our School Day will look like.

7:00-9:00 am-wake up, eat, dress, complete our morning chores
9:00-11:00- Cooperative Learning Time (things that we all do together)
11:00-12:30-Lunch and Recess
12:30-2:00-Individual Work Time, Naptime for little ones
2:00-3:00-Video Game Time (30 min for Nick and Alex, 30 min for Chelsea)
3:00-5:00- Productive Free Time, Outdoor Play
5:00-7:00- Supper,Evening Chores, Play
7:00-8:00-Snack, Ready for Bed, Storytime, Prayers
8:00-Bed (everyone but Chelsea who gets to read in her room until 9:00)

Every day we will do Bible, Math, Reading, History, Writing, PE. and Five in a Row for Nick and Alex.
Mondays we will have a Craft or Art lesson.
Tuesdays we will do Music.
Wednesday we Read our Science and complete the Notebook Page.
Thursdays we do our Science Project/Experiment.
Fridays we take off to run errands and go to the park.

Tweet

Does Anyone Else See The Irony?

Is it just boys that do this? Or maybe it's just my boys. Here is a nice clean fresh swimming pool right beside him, and Christian is swimming in a mud puddle. Well I guess I should just call it creativity because the mud puddle is as deep as it is because Nick, Alex, and Anthony made a dam out of rocks, sticks, and blocks. Christian had fun in the puddle and then I hosed him off because he was too dirty to get in the pool.

Tweet

Happy Birthday Anthony!

I can't believe that Anthony is three already! I remember when we found out we were expecting him. The whole family had a stomach virus, but when everyone else started feeling better I wasn't. Surprise! We called him baby " Olive " because the ultrasound tech said that at 8 weeks he was the size of an olive. I had a very easy pregnancy, but I knew from the beginning that he was going to be a big baby. I wasn't any bigger than with my other children, but he felt huge to me. Chelsea was 8lbs 8oz, Nick was 8lbs 6 oz, and Alex was 8 lbs 7 0z, so it stood to reason that he was going to be a good size. We decided we did not want to find out if he was a boy or a girl, but 10 days before I had him my doctor sent me for an ultrasound to check my fluid and the tech said, "Well it is still a boy." I was so upset, but she felt terrible for letting it slip. When we were leaving to go to the hospital I asked my mom how big she thought the baby would be and she guessed 8 and 1/2 pounds, I guessed 9. My labor was pretty uneventful (besides the nurses thinking I was crazy for wanting to have him natural I will write a post about that another time.) All of the nurses has been warned that I tend to have babies pretty quickly (Nick and Alex only took 2 hours and 15 minutes) so they were prepared. It always confuses me why they wait until the very last second to call the doctor. My doctor was sleeping in a room down the hall (it was 1:30 am) and I told the nurse I had to push. The doctor came running while the nurse kept saying, "Don't push yet." (yea right, you try to stop it.) I pushed twice and there was a beautiful, huge baby boy. The cord was around his neck, but he was crying like crazy and kicking his arms and legs. He was 9lbs 5 oz and 22 inches long! The nursery nurses took the newborn diapers away and brought in some size 1's. He was finally here, our newest miracle.

Today my little Pea Pod is three years old and playing He- Man the most powerful man in the universe. I took the picture of him with his sword on his back riding on his mighty Battle Cat (I turned the rocking horse into Battle Cat after Anthony wanted Christian to play him so Anthony could ride on his back.) Anthony says it is not his birthday he is not getting presents and not eating chocolate cake. I bet he'll change his mind when we get to the campground and he gets to see his brothers and sisters again and we give him the cake and presents. Happy Birthday Anthony!

Tweet

Sleep Apnea

Yesterday, we went to Arkansas Children's Hospital for Anthony's ENT appointment. Anthony has huge tonsils and adenoids, and even though he is not chronically sick with sore throats, the doctor told us it would be in his best interest to have his tonsils and adenoids taken out because of obstructive sleep apnea and the medical problems that can come as a result of it. Anthony will be having the surgery on August 14 and they will keep him in the hospital for 24 hours because of his age. I am not looking forward to my baby having surgery, but the staff at Children's Hospital are wonderful, and it should make a big difference in his life. So what exactly is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

The main reason for removing a child's tonsils and adenoids used to be chronic sore throat, but now OSA is the leading cause of this surgery. Children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea may have symptoms that include: continuous loud snoring, failure to thrive (weight loss or poor weight gain) mouth breathing, enlarged tonsils or adenoids, problems sleeping or restless sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness, and daytime cognitive and behavior problems. Children suspected of having OSA should be evaluated by a Pediatric ENT specialist. Treatments may include: weight loss for overweight children with OSA, allergy evaluation and treatment, and removal of tonsils and adenoids. Obstructive Sleep Apnea can cause a lot of complications including: poor growth, head-aches, high blood pressure, and other heart and lung problems. Children with Down Syndrome are at a high risk for OSA. Sleep problems are now being recognized as a main cause of daytime school and behavior problems. So if your child is having problems concentrating during the day, or is having problems with his behavior and he snores loudly it may be a problem with OSA.

Anthony has had problems sleeping as long as I can remember. At almost 3 years old he still does not sleep through the night and he is very restless in his sleep. He snores very loudly, often pausing in his breathing and can not breathe through his mouth. He actually makes snoring noises when he is awake and often acts very sleepy by early evening even though he still takes a nap. He also sounds like he has a rock in his throat when he is trying to talk and it can make him difficult to understand. The recovery time for the surgery varies with each child, but is usually 7 days to two weeks. It is my prayer that Anthony does well during the surgery and has an easy recovery with very little pain, and I would appreciate all of your prayers also.

Tweet

Tasty Tuesday: My Favorite Pasta Salad

When the thermometer is hovering around 100 degrees, you may not be interested in preparing or eating a hot meal. This is my favorite cold pasta salad, and I serve it with fresh fruit and home-made bread.

1 8 oz package egg noodles
2 tomatoes diced
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 cups cooked chicken diced
1 cup Italian Dressing (I use fat free)

Cook noodles according to package directions. Mix in all other ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tweet